Design · Reference
Four decisions account for almost every decorative surface that ages well and almost every one that does not. None of them is about which pattern is fashionable, and all of them are cheaper to get right on paper than in concrete.
Rules
The single most useful design rule in decorative concrete is that the repeating unit of a pattern should appear at least five or six times across the shorter dimension of the surface. Below that, a pattern reads as a handful of shapes and looks like a sample rather than a floor. This one rule eliminates most of the mismatches we are asked to fix later, and it costs nothing to apply.
Concrete colour looks different indoors, different under a van's tailgate, different in shade, and different wet. We leave samples on site so they can be seen at different times of day against the actual house, and we wet them, because every decorative surface spends part of its life wet and that is when people notice they chose from a dry sample. Dark colours in particular look considerably heavier in full sun than on a board.
The finishes that look right in ten years take their colour from something already on the property — the brick, the stone, the roof, the trim — rather than from whatever is fashionable in a supplier's range this year. Concrete is a long-lived material and a fashionable colour dates faster than a matched one. Where a client wants a strong colour, we usually suggest putting it in a border and keeping the field close to the house.
Decorative surfaces look designed when they stop at a deliberate line and accidental when they die into whatever they meet. A border in a contrasting colour or a different texture does that work cheaply, frames the field, gives the joint layout something to align to, and makes future repairs far easier. It is the highest-value decorative detail available and it is consistently under-used.
Control joints are required and they will be visible, so they should be drawn rather than discovered. On a stamped field they can be hidden in the pattern's grout lines. On a smooth field they can be made into a deliberate grid. What they should not be is a functional grid cut across a decorative pattern at an unrelated angle, which is what happens when jointing is left to the day.
The most convincing decorative work we do is usually the most restrained: one field colour, one border, a well-drawn joint layout and excellent finishing. Combining several patterns, several colours and several textures on one property tends to read as a catalogue rather than as a design, and it costs considerably more to achieve that. If the budget is limited, spend it on base preparation and finishing quality rather than on additional decorative elements.
Site visits are free, and we will say plainly when a smaller or cheaper option is the better one.